God gave him the child he prayed for

Deacon Cecil Taylor got married in 1999, five years after surrendering his life to Jesus Christ.

After trying for a number of years to produce a child with his wife, they finally did. But it did not happen before he made a serious move for the Lord.

"I knew I was saved, but I was not serious in my spiritually. However, as time went by, I started to get more serious. We got more serious about God in 2010 when I finally made the commitment and got baptised," shared Taylor.

He testified that he did a number of tests to determine the reasons surrounding their inability to produce a child, though his wife had two children from a previous relationship.

"We were sent to do all sorts of tests and we were both okay. My wife was, and still is, a very strong believer. But it was not until 2010 that we produced a child. Before that, I was going to church, singing on the choir and all of that, but I don't know what was holding me back," testified Taylor.

But when he finally got baptised, along with his stepson, Taylor recalled questioning himself as to why he should bother to have a baby in his life at that stage.

CONCEPTION

"Quite unknown to me, that was the time when conception took place. My wife started to complain that she was feeling ill, feeling weak, and had all kinds of different symptoms, and I started to wonder what was happening to her. Being pregnant was the farthest thing from my mind," he said.

He said that when they visited the doctor, they found out that his wife was three months' pregnant. He added that his wife was high risk because of her age at the time, and when the time came close to deliver the child, they went prematurely to the hospital and spent one week before delivery.

This, Taylor said, was done because he wanted nothing to go wrong with his wife, but especially, with his first child.

"I was anxious because I did not want to leave anything to chance. She spent a week in the hospital and nothing was happening, so the doctor sent her home. I was on my way to the airport a day after she was sent home, and while I was on my way, I got a call from her asking me where I was. I told her I was on my way back home," he recalled.

Taylor's wife told him to hurry home. When he arrived, he was informed that the baby was not moving. She was taken to the hospital, and 15 minutes after arriving at the maternity ward, his first child was delivered, one week before Christmas.

The son was ill and had to be hospitalised after birth, but prayers were answered on Christmas Day when the baby was able to go home.

"The lesson I learnt from all of that is that we have to be fully committed to God. There should be no wavering. There should be no holding back because when one holds back on God, He will not deliver. The thing that we dream of can be delayed. Ever since that, I have become a stronger Christian," said the church deacon.

Taylor is a member of the Olive Tree Church of God at Bloomwell in Clarendon. He currently serves as a Sunday school superintendent at his church.

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